Memory Verse: “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV
Just Another Day
It’s Saturday. My husband is reviewing his sermon for the next day. I’m organizing surprize letters to our girls for each day we’ll be gone, we’re leaving on Thursday to the States without them for three weeks. The girls are patiently playing around. As we are trying to finish so many details, we have a very late night. But, that’s ok. Tomorrow after church we can have a nap.
It’s Sunday morning, 8:00 AM. The girls are fed, showered and dressed for church. Now it’s my turn to get ready, so I could go practice the piano. Meanwhile, my sweetheart is finishing up setting up chairs in the church. We live above the church building, so we can afford to do that.
As my husband is moving around piles of chairs, a twinge of pain shoots through his chest for a few seconds. But, as this goes away, he keeps on working on his task. A couple of minutes later, the twinge turns back with a bit more force. Usually hon would be determined to keep on working, pushing through pain, but something that morning made him come upstairs and ask for aspirin as a precaution. The twinge turned into burning pain and numbness of both hands. Before even explaining all the symptoms, something made me dial 112, the 911 of Romania.
Little did we know that we were dealing with our biggest fear, a massive heart attack that in most cases leaves the spouse a widow even if you were at Mayo Clinic.
All this took place exactly a year ago, January 10th- I’m writing this unusual article as a One Year Anniversary of Celebrating Life, remembering God’s grace.
A Big God, Involved In Little Details
I love my God! He is a big God, involved in the little details of my life. This is just a summary of some details God was into:
Timing was perfect. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens“, Eccleasiastes 3:1 NIV, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 NIV
- Only on Sunday’s and Wednesday’s the best ER hospital in the country, Floreasca, takes care of heart attacks. The rest of the days, the ambulance takes you to other ordinary hospitals in the city. God is into details.
- Had it happened few days later, we were supposed to be in a long haul flight over the ocean on our way to the States. Nothing like feeling more helpless having a heart attack in an airplane. God is into details.
- Sunday, a week later, we had a blizzard, which meant two things: slower ambulance service, and more heart attacks in line (they can take one case at a time). Doctors told us most heart attacks happen on Sunday mornings, especially on freezing days. God is into details.
- Few days before this, we were in Moldova celebrating New Year’s with my family. If you know much about my part of the country, in case of a heart attack, you’re better off to call the morgue than the hospital. And, no offence to some great doctors there that I know and respect, but resources in Moldova are very limited. God is into details.
- A Sunday morning, people available to help (not at work). We had amazing child care from dear friends at church. Also, believers in churches all over the world were praying for us. We have an amazing support system as christians. God is into details.
- Between the first symptoms and the surgeon finishing his job, it was less than 90 minutes, even though the first ambulance was not properly equipped to help and had to wait on a second one to come, which also had some glitches. God is into details.
- It was 8:00 AM. Because it was so early in the day, we were the first in line, after us there were a lot of cases. You get treated based on ‘First come, first served’. God is into details.
No more trauma than necessary “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13
- That same day, my dad was in Istanbul, Turkey at a conference. You don’t have to follow the news much to know it’s a danger zone at times. Well, as my dad was in his meetings, across the street from him, was a terrorist attack killing several tourists. It could have been my dad instead. God is into details.
- As soon as my dad lands in Chisinau, Moldova to drive home. He gets a disturbing phone call from Italy, from his doctors. As a transplant patient, you don’t want doctors to call you with bad news. They called to let him know that there’s something really wrong with his blood tests. His liver is failing. He drives directly to Bucharest to fly to Rome. By God’s grace, a few days later we find out there was an error in the blood tests. As a bonus, we get an encouraging visit from my dad at the hospital. God is into details.
Paralyzed By Fear
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV
Even months after the event, I was paralyzed by fear. I felt like we needed to move our home next to a cardiac hospital, if living in the hospital was not an option.
On top of all that, just one month after the heart attack, our oldest was dealing with an anger crisis in full blast: throwing hard and soft objects around the house, rearranging furniture (for free 🙂 ), trying to stab me with a pencil from behind, yelling from the top of her lungs because we were not engaging in her anger fits… doing anything, but keeping the peace and quiet a cardiac patient needs according to the doctors.
With each scream and crisis in the house, I was reliving my fear of losing my most precious gift in this world, my husband. We reached out to anyone we knew. We asked and begged for prayers. With tears in our eyes and with broken hearts, we felt helpless. But, when I didn’t have the strength to pray, other faithful believers did.
One day, we talked on Skype with a godly lady with more experience with RAD kids (Reactive Attachment Disorder). She said some words that keep me accountable to this day: ‘Naty, you are giving your daughter too much credit. Her anger fits can not kill your husband. His life is in God’s hands, not hers.’ There was nothing new about what she said. But I never had to deal with this in such a real way.
Reality is that God beat all the odds:
- We dealt with a severe heart attack in an Eastern European hospital, but God gave us amazing doctors.
- We dealt with angry/ scared kids when all we needed was a peaceful home, yet God’s grace was sufficient.
- We dealt with a very busy schedule, yet we managed to fit in a heart attack on a timely day.
Lessons I Learned
I am aware that not all stories have this happy ending, not that we are out of the woods, but I will not be bashful about celebrating God’s goodness.
- Take one day at a time. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34 NIV
- Accept God’s sovereignty. “The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.” Psalm 135:6 NIV
- God cares about small details. God gave Noah such specific details on how to build the ark and much more: “So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.” Genesis 6:14-16 NIV
- Don’t get paralyzed by fear. “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise— in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” Psalm 56:3-4 NIV
- Allow yourself to be surrounded by godly friends in good times and in hard times. “Not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:25 NIV
- Accept good and bad in your life. “…The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” Job 1:20b
- Take your health seriously as much as it depends on you. “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own” 1 Corinthians 6:19 NIV
- Create memories daily and don’t take each breath for granted.